Spotted in Sheffield

Sheffield Street Art

Lately, I’ve been rather rushed off my feet and so have yet to research any more details about the previous owners of my new home (that report will have to come another month). Fortunately, I found some rather surprising sights on a recent antiques-hunting excusion to Sheffield that I can share with you all instead.

Having chosen a rather snazzy Victorian-era, French-origin oil lamp that had been converted to run off electricity in the Sheffield Antiques Centre, I was wandering back through the Antiques Quarter, when I spotted an unusual piece of street art alongside the River Sheaf.

Tranquillity in the City

That got me interested in the area around the river, and I paid more attention to the far bank, initially hoping for more street art, but evenually leading me to discover a whole host of wildlife living alongside the city’s waterways. First up was a rather busy little chap, a water vole, Kenneth Grahame’s inspiration for Ratty in The Wind in the Willows although rats and voles aren’t really that closely related. As it’s a fair few years since I saw a water vole, I was very glad by this point that I’d been carrying my camera.

Water Vole — Wind in the Willows’ RattyWater Vole — not really a rat

Water Vole — such a busy little chap

Alongside the water vole, I also spotted the expected ducks (ducks get everywhere!) as well as a moorhen (or two) and also a heron, although that was standing so still that I began to wonder whether it was real.